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Hazleton City Council Vice President Karin Cabell's tenure with the governing body ended Thursday, with Cabell citing health reasons for stepping down with about a year remaining in her term.

Cabell, who was elected to council in 2009, reluctantly gave up her seat at the urging of her physician. She did not attend the past three council meetings, with her participation limited to casting votes via speaker phone at two of those meetings.

The development occurred as council members scramble to scale back a projected 83-percent property tax increase and an earned income tax increase projected for 2013. Council will be shy a member going into a budget work session tentatively scheduled for next week. City officials said the vacancy will likely be filled on Dec. 19, which leaves the governing body with seven work days to establish tax rates and approve budget appropriations for the upcoming year.

Resumes can be mailed to or personally delivered to the council clerk through Dec. 14, Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi said.

The development came as a surprise to some on council, with President James Perry saying he knows nothing more about Cabell's condition other than general health issues that were cited in a resignation letter that Cabell sent via email on Thursday.

Her resignation is effective immediately.

"It's unfortunate," Perry said. "Certainly it's not good timing for the person coming in. Perhaps voting on the budget would be stressful for someone coming in and getting up to speed."

Cabell referred to her resignation letter when declining to comment further Thursday.

"I regret that my current state of health impedes me from discharging my duties," Cabell wrote. "I do this at the urging of my physician. I would like to take this opportunity to mention that I leave my position with both regret and a heavy heart. I am sincerely proud to have had the opportunity to serve on council and will always keep Hazleton and her citizens close to my heart."

In closing, Cabell urged remaining council members to work together for the betterment of the city.

"Life is alarmingly too short for nonsense," she wrote.

When learning of the resignation on Thursday, Yannuzzi said he immediately reached out to Perry - who agreed to the mayor's proposal for having the city clerk accept resumes through Dec. 14 and having council fill the vacancy at its Dec. 19 meeting.

The mayor said he's hopeful council will agree on a successor but said he can cast the tie-breaking vote should its members cast a 2-2 vote on a nominee.

"That's the only time I have a vote: if there's a vacancy on council and the vote ends in a tie," the mayor said. "Hopefully, this won't end in a tie. Hopefully they'll be a candidate out there who everyone thinks would do a good job."

Yannuzzi said he was saddened when learning of Cabell's resignation, calling Cabell a "pleasure to work with."

"She was very honest and very passionate - sometimes to a fault," the mayor said. "Overall, she always had the citizens of Hazleton, the residents, in her mind."

With council faced with time constraints for adopting a budget, Perry said the governing body should select a replacement who "has a knowledge about what's going on."

Even if a replacement has a favorable background, Perry said the person would have little time to become familiar with the budget proposal.

City administrators released their eighth version of a draft budget earlier this week and council members responded with calls for cuts.

sgalski@standardspeaker.com

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